Wednesday, November 27, 2013

1. Google
There is a reason that Google is one of the top companies in the world — they produce useful products. These are a few of their innovations I found most helpful in my studies.

Google Chrome is surprisingly helpful for research projects. Booking marking sites under your Google Chrome account allows you to access them through any computer you use. So if you have done a ton of work finding helpful websites online for a research project, bookmark them all into a folder so when you go to campus you can access them on a campus computer or your laptop. I don’t use other browsers so they might be able to do the same thing on other browsers, but it is very simple to figure out in Google Chrome.

Google Calendar can help you plan your time, and share a schedule with other people to figure out a time to plan something.

Google Docs were oftentimes used in many of my classes to collaborate on study guides, and to put together groups projects. There are a lot of different formats you can create a document in Google Docs, and even makes it possible to avoid buying Microsoft Office.
Obviously the Google search engine is helpful for basic research, and for finding just about any information you need.

Google voice is a free VoIP phone service which is helpful if you have to pay much to call home, or if you have a limited number of minutes, as you can use it over WiFi. If you get a number it will try to transcribe messages that people leave you (They’re kind of funny because they can be so wrong sometime). This can be helpful if you are doing an internship that requires a lot of time talking on the phone.

Google Translate can help out with language classes — Use the translation software as a guide, because unless they have improved a lot recently, it won’t be super accurate.
So, if you have just started college and have avoided getting a Google account go ahead and get one now. You’ll probably have to do it eventually. One of my classes used Blogger as our method of composing and turning in assignments.

2. Quizlet
Quizlet is a flashcard website. For most classes, someone has already created a list of flashcards on Quizlet that you can flip through. Generally they might not be exactly what you need, but they will be close enough. You can print them off. It can create practice tests. You can play games that make the learning more interactive. You can have it read the flashcards to you. Plus, you don’t have to buy anything and lug around a giant stack of flashcards. There are probably other sites like this one out there, but this is my favorite.
note from Katie here: This is the only way I passed one of my classes this last semester, because someone had previously created an amazing study guide. Just sayin’.

3. SugarSync
SugarSync is an online data storage site. However, you can create a file on multiple computers (including a smartphone) through the SugarSync app that will update if you make a change to the file on one of the devices. So, if I was working on a paper in Microsoft Word (or your program of choice) on my desktop at home I could simple save it as a SugarSync file, and I would be able to access it at another computer on campus in order to continue to work on it. This is especially nice if you don’t have a printer at your apartment, and you have to print from a campus printer. Instead of going to through the whole process of always emailing everything to yourself you can just have you computers sync your files.
Sugarsync is a paid subscription, though you get 5 GB for free, which will probably be satisfactory for just occasionally using it.

4. Rate My Professor
This is a classic site to see how other students viewed their professors. This can be very helpful when trying to put together a class schedule. They can even be rated with little chili peppers if students think the professor was attractive. Obviously every student has something different that they expect and want from a professor, so be careful how much importance you place on other people’s opinions. Teachers are ranked on a number of central attributes, plus students can write their own personal comments.

5. Wikipedia
Wikipedia is becoming slightly more acceptable in academic circles, but it is by its nature not a high level source suited for higher education. It is user generated, and the users could be just about anyone. However, it is a helpful place to start a research project. It can introduce you to the general ideas and issues involved in a topic, and it can provide you with links to more credible sources. However, I would not cite Wikipedia in paper unless a profess or specifically says it is allowed.

6. School Library Websites
Colleges and Universities generally pay for their students to be able to access different databases of scholarly journals, news articles, and books online. Through BYU I was able to access JSTOR which I used extensively during research projects to find those sources you actually could cite in a research paper. JSTOR allowed me to store a list of different articles I found that I wanted to return to easily in the future. I’m sure most schools and most majors have similar resources for students.

7. RefWorks
Refworks and cites like it help you to attempt to skip the tedious and boring process of putting together your own citations. This may not seem like a very helpful resource if you have never written a paper like I have that required at least thirty sources. I was never able to figure out how to use RefWorks well myself, so I got very good at looking up the rules for all of the different types of citations.

8. Audible
Audible.com is an audio book website. You can get a free audio book when you sign up.So if you have multiple email address you could potentially get multiple books for free. I had a job as a janitor for a while where having a audio book of an assigned book from one of my classes allowed me to essentially be studying while I was working. You could listen to books while you run or drive as well. Time is precious during college so anything you can do like this will help you stay on top of your classes. I’m sure there are not audio books for textbooks, so only certain types of books will work.

9. Half.com and Amazon.com
Buying and selling textbooks online can make the cost of your books much cheaper. I generally used Half.com the most. It usually wasn’t too complicated, and if you ordered books from the same source you can save on shipping. If you have Amazon prime I believe shipping is free.

10. Fill My Team
This applies specifically to BYU, but there may be equivalent sites for other schools. It is a site where people can try to put together intramural teams. Intramural sports can be a lot of fun, and it is a good, healthy way to blow off some steam and stay in shape. Sports help motivate me to exercise, and exercise is good for the mind and body. Basically, playing sports is probably good for you. However, being in charge of a team or finding a good team can be a bit of a pain. Fill my team makes it easy to put together a team so you don’t have to waste too much your precious time pestering people to play on your wheel chair rugby team – we really had that one year.
With deadlines and all the things that I had to worry about as a college student who worked, got married and started a family before I graduated, time was very important. These sites made my life more manageable, and I probably got better grades because of them.

Are there any sites you’ve used in college that you found particularly helpful?

Google Glass will soon allow compatibility for iPhone users to navigation and text messaging features

A Google representative has said Google intends to allow Glass to handle these features independent of the device the user has paired it to, TechCrunch reports.

Glass can work with any iPhone over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but lacks access to features such as map navigation and text messages which would require access to APIs that Apple has restrictions on.

For Google Glass users to operate navigation and text messaging, the device has to paired with an Android phone with the Glass companion app installed. Users of Glass are currently limited to those involved in the Glass Explorers program - around 2,000 developers.

"It's worth nothing that one of the myths surrounding Glass is that it is independently connected to the Internet," TechCrunch reports. Glass needs to be connected to your phone's personal hotspot feature by pairing the two together.

The news shared with TechCrunch means that it can be expected that Glass will become fully functional on whichever device you use to connect it to the internet.

Google Glass tech specs were leaked last month, revealing features such as 16GB of total storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and a 5MP camera shooting in 720p video.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Sometimes you download some music and film files from torrent website. You may not understand how the up loaders make money with their torrent files.

Most uploader’s don’t make money, they do it for personal values (sharing) and earning respect.

You can make money in a variety of ways, you may develop your own private BitTorrent website with it’s own private trackers, which give users the illusion of privacy & security. You could do this buy requiring an “invite”, charging $x.xx for 2 invites, one for himself and one for a friend.If you can find an affiliate, you can always advertise by including a text or image file in your torrents about the affiliate. If your torrents get really popular, they will most likely pay you for your advertising.

Another possibility through an affiliate program, if you have a decent connection speed (especially upload) you could setup a computer on your network as a seed box. This is where the system’s main duty is simply to upload the torrent data to other users. You will usually need at least a consistent 2GB/upload speed.

You could use the CPA password method, which is generally frowned upon in the P2P community. This method involves password protecting an archieve and only giving a link to where the password is, the link itself is usually something like Share cash or some service that pays you for the amount of people who visit your link.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Cathy is in need of a legitimate way to make money online fast. She writes in: “I was a nurse for almost 30 years when I became disabled from a car wreck. I am a very tough person (I’m a redhead!) I went out last October and bought a new PC to try and make money online, but all I have succeeded in doing is getting further in debt. I know you know what I mean by all the scams that I fell into.

I have been reading A LOT and trying to learn as much as I can. I have run into conflicting stories, though. I just don’t know where to start. I am not a computer tech, nor that knowledgeable about how to start. I am NOT asking for a handout; just a helping hand in the right direction.

I’m not expecting to make tons of money today, but ANYTHING to help me get started in the right direction. I have saved thousands of lives and now I can’t even get through the month without running out of food!”

Cathy has the right attitude — she’s not looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, but instead a legitimate way to make some extra money online.

Having been sucked into some scams myself in the past, I know how difficult it can be to find realways to make money online fast. Thus, I’ve compiled this list. Some ways require knowledge of certain skills, but all these skills can be learned. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest picking one of these ways and learning more about it, then trying it out!

Note: None of the 20 ways listed below contain affiliate links (that is, links that make me money if you click on them.) This list is for your benefit, not mine. Enjoy!

1. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

Mechanical Turk is a great way to make some extra cash. You probably won’t make much more than a few dollars an hour, but it’s also dead simple to complete many of the tasks. Most tasks take less than a minute to complete and pay a few pennies. If you do a lot of MTurk, it could add up to at least some fun spending money. Sign up for free, then complete qualifications to earn access to higher-paying tasks.

2. Sell stock photos.

iStockPhoto is just one site that allows you to sell stock photos; there are others. Before you decide to go crazy and upload your whole album, take note of what’s selling well and try your hand at doing something similar. iStockPhoto also works for those who know how to render images; some of their most popular images were created on a computer! Have three killer stock photos ready for iStockPhoto’s inspection; they will want them when you sign up.

3. Sell stuff on eBay.

Start by selling your own extra stuff. Then, once you get a feel for selling your extra stuff, go door-to-door in nicer neighborhoods in your town. Develop an eye for what will sell and what won’t (old laptops, for instance, could be a gold mine–if you know how to format them to get rid of the previous owner’s personal data.) Sign a contract where you take 25-30% (or more) of the gross sale. Your customers will be happy to get cash for their old junk, and you’ll make some good money selling other people’s stuff. eBay

4. Become a freelance article writer.

It may not pay well, but there is a growing demand for this. Write 200-300 word articles and submit them to article directories. Potential clients include bloggers, marketers, and small businesses. You can write articles in a niche in batches and sell them as a package to one or more clients, or you can offer your services for hire per word or article and let your client give you direction. A foundation ofkeyword research is important to succeed at this job (unless you’re just taking direction from a client), but keyword research is learnable.

5. Write articles for magazines or other publications.

If you have a background in journalism, or just a passion for it, you can try your hand at submitting articles to publications. Don’t just randomly fire off articles, however; have a plan and, preferably, a contact at the publication you wish to submit to. The good news is that there are publications in pretty much any niche you can think of. To see some publications that are hiring, visit Online Writing Jobs, PoeWar Freelance Jobs, and Writing.com.

6. Transcribe audio files.

An easy job; doesn’t pay well, but also a quick way to make some money. Sign up on eLance oroDesk to start, and/or advertise your services in entrepreneur forums. Requires good hearing and a good command of the English language. You may also want to invest in a foot pedal if you plan to transcribe often. Make sure you know how to transcribe interviews before you start your first job.

7. Become a virtual assistant (VA).

There are entire books written on how to become a virtual assistant, so this job is definitely worthy of more research. My advice: Focus on one niche (I just hired Lisa Morosky of VA for Bloggers, for instance.) Also, reach out to potential customers directly and let them know what you can do for them instead of hitting up freelance web sites. Finally, you may want to consider resources such asAssistU, which provides training for up-and-coming virtual assistants.

8. Write articles on eHow.com.

If you understand the basics of keyword research, you can make a good monthly income from eHow. eHow pays you a percentage of the ad revenue they make from each “How to” article you create. You can crank out a few articles a day with relative ease. Try this for a month; assuming your article titles match up with what people are searching for in Google, you can make a significant income. The great news is that you write your articles once and get paid month after month. I’ve seen figures of $100-$150/month for 30 articles. Make money writing for eHow.com.

9. Do some videos to promote affiliate products.

Enjoy making silly videos? Even short, silly videos can sell products online. Find an product worth promoting that has an affiliate program, then target your video toward potential customers of that product. In your video summary on YouTube, place your affiliate link for the product, and after the video, do a 30-second still frame showing a short URL where people can buy the product. If your video is funny, informative, or useful, you may sell some products. Big tip: Try to promote a product that makes you a fair amount of money for each sale, but doesn’t cost a whole lot for the potential customer. You can find products on Commission Junction, for one.

10. Write an ebook targeted to people who need help.

Alexis Dawes created a product called “Desperate Buyers Only”. I interview her for an upcoming case study on Inspiring Innovators, where she mentions that she is able to make up to $97 from ebooks as small as 12 pages. The key? Finding people who are incredibly desperate for the information you provide and then doing good research to find a real solution to their problems. The result? Happy customers whose problem is solved, and money for you — a win-win situation! Caveat: It may be tough to find a real desperate buyer niche (Alexis reveals some in her case study). Here are some hints: When were you last in a situation where information would have either saved you a lot of money or a lot of pain? Has someone else close to you been in a situation where they could have used information to avert pain? Think legal, medical, and financial niches.

11. Build a small niche website.

I run a few small niche websites. For instance,How to Convert PDFis a tiny site that has free videos on how to convert other types of documents into PDF format. It sells a piece of software called PDF Creator, and I make a few dollars every time someone buys from that site. I promoted the site using pay-per-click ads and it was profitable. Don’t copy me directly, but do find the intersection of people needing help and a tool, ebook, or software program that will help them fix their problem. Then, create a website designed to get them to buy it!

12. Help local businesses develop an online presence.

Local businesses are struggling. Many have websites, but aren’t getting any results from them. Others don’t have websites at all. You can help by learning search engine optimization, how to set up an email list, and more, and then implementing these for local businesses. If you typically hang around geeks, web marketers, or the Web 2.0 crowd, you may be surprised how many business owners are 10 years (or more) behind you! If you can deliver results, business owners will happily pay. Find customers by going door-to-door.

13. Learn WordPress, then offer to install plugins and upgrade it.

I hired David from Web Geek 4 Hire to upgrade my blogs and install new WordPress plugins. He charges $5 to upgrade a plugin…great for him, since most plugins only take a few minutes to upgrade, and great for me, since if anything breaks, David gets to clean up the mess! You can make this a full time position; there is a ton of demand for these services. Find customers by contacting bloggers directly. Get references from bloggers who understand the value of outsourcing these tasks.

14. Become the go-to person for installations of a particular piece of software.

Anything from Amember to Quickbooks is fair game here. In the hosting industry, iDevAffiliate andPlesk Billing were the pieces of software we would have paid a lot of money to have someone else deal with. The more niche and more complex/annoying/frustrating the software, the better! Even if the software company offers free installation, you can make hundreds or thousands of dollars training business owners or their employees on its usage. Focus on one piece of software and become the trusted expert. Create videos and tutorials using screencast software like Camtasia to increase your profitability; this may also lead into a niche product that you can sell. (Amember offers “free installation”, but it took my boyfriend and I over 10 hours to configure it properly. That’s definitely something I would outsource next time!)

15. Interview other people and sell the interviews.

I experimented with this in 2008 and made over $800 from one interview. The key here is to understand a pain point that people are experiencing, interview an expert, and ask the expert the questions that the people experiencing the problem are having. Then create a small website and sell the interview. There’s more to this, including having good copywriting skills so your website sells the interview well, and knowing where to advertise, so don’t expect to immediately pull in hundreds of dollars. That said, it’s a neat way to quickly create a product. Get the interviews transcribed, then string a few interviews in the same industry together as a membership site or bundle that you can sell for more money.

16. Become a freelance “web geek.”

From configuring a shopping cart to installing and tweaking blog themes, there are virtually unlimited projects out there for geeks who enjoy working with small business owners to get them up and running online. Find people looking for web geeks on the Warrior Forum or other places where entrepreneurs gather.

17. Enter logo and design contests.

Fancy yourself a good designer? Try your hand at creating a logo or other design that a company loves! 99 Designs is the most popular marketplace. Beware, however; you won’t get paid unless your logo wins against many others, which makes many designers unhappy. In my opinion, this is a great way for a budding designer to build a portfolio and learn quickly what clients love.

18. Create Twitter backgrounds and e-covers.

Competition is stiff, but if you are a savvy designer, this is a good way to pick up extra dollars. Even better, if you are an artist, this is a good way to make your art skills pay off. Consider that every design will need to have a reason why the customer should buy the book or follow that person on Twitter to have a real impact. Twitter backgrounds, in particular, are in hot demand right now. For measurements and caveats of Twitter backgrounds, read “How to create your own Twitter background.”

19. Submit websites or blog posts to social media websites.

Not very exciting work, but in high demand from bloggers and small businesses. This involves setting up accounts on all of the social bookmarking services and then bookmarking your clients’ websites or latest blog posts to help them get more traffic. You may be competing against software that does this, but in many folks’ opinions, it’s better to have a real person do it. Even better is if you can goose your accounts with plenty of friends and become a star on a few of the services; then every site you bookmark has higher credibility and you can charge more. To get an idea of the social media sites you will need to sign up for, start at socialmarker.com.

20. Edit audio for others.

This is something that is fairly easy to learn and also in high demand. On Windows, one good program to edit audio is Sony Sound Forge. I use Sound Forge Audio Studio, but if you are doing this professionally, you might consider the upgrade to Sound Forge 9. Get the hang of editing out “um”s and “ah”s from audio. Even better is understanding the “flow” of an interview conversation and editing out portions that don’t make sense. Finally, learning to find and add intro music really gives podcasts that professional touch. Advertise your services on oDesk or eLance. I pay people to do this for the podcasts I am setting up on Inspiring Innovators, and it’s a job that can definitely be done from your house.

Which One Will You Try? Let Me Know…

There you have it…20 ways for you to make money online fast. Now it’s your turn! I’d like to knowwhich of these methods you would like to hear more about. Please let me know by taking 30 seconds to post a comment below, and I will write more about the most-requested topics.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The process of becoming a YouTube partner is not as trivial as becoming an AdSense publisher. Below you’ll find the basic steps you need to go through:

1. Make Sure You Have an AdSense Account

While the process to be able to display ads on your YouTube videos is a separate one, your earnings and stats will go together with your AdSense account, so you need to have one.

In theory you could apply to become a YouTube partner before having an AdSense account, and in case you get accepted you would then follow up with an AdSense application. I believe the other way around is much simpler, though.

2. Grow Your Audience on YouTube

One of the most important criteria the YouTube guys will use to evaluate your application is the audience you reach on YouTube. They don’t reveal what are the requirements, but I’ve seen many people say these are the ballpark numbers you need to have before getting accepted:

at least 1,000 subscribers

at least 1,000 views on all your videos

at least 10,000 channel views

These are the very minimum though, if you want to make sure you’ll get accepted I would aim for 5,000 subscribers, 50,000 channel views and over 1,000,000 upload views total.

3. Get Videos Out There Regularly

If you only have one or two videos uploaded your chances of getting accepted are low, even if those videos went viral. That’s because YouTube is looking for people who are planning to work with them over the long term.

The more regularly and frequently you upload new videos, the better. For instance, someone who uploads a new video every day will have a better chance of getting accepted than someone who uploads one every couple of weeks.

You also want to make sure you have at least 100 uploaded videos before applying to become a partner (though some people say 50 will be enough).

4. Develop A Brand Around Your Videos

This step is not essential, but I think it helps a lot on getting approve. You need to remember that, once you meet the technical guidelines, it will be a person on the other site deciding on whether you are a good fit for becoming a YouTube Partner or not. In other words, the more professional you look the higher your chances.

Practical tips include:

Create a website to host your videos and give your audience more wayts to interact

Create a nice logo and use it everywhere

Use a watermark on your videos with your logo

Consider getting a professional intro made for your videos

Customize your YouTube channel to make it look professional

5. Make Sure Your Content Has Zero Copyrighted Material

If there’s one thing that will get your application rejected on the spot is copyright infringement, so make sure you have zero copyrighted material on your videos.

This includes images, graphics, logos, video clips and audio. For instance, even just using a music on the background which you don’t have permission to could get your application rejected.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Google turns 14 today, I love the specific feature about Google as others. As it is celebrating its fourteenth birthday. Lets watch out how it turns from a search engine to verb.

During the 90's there is no big search engine except a few like Altavista.com, msn.com, tripod.com, yahoo.com and etc. Once Google came into the market it took sometime and vanishes the rest of the product and it became the Monopoly for Search Engine. Later it entered in various products and got success in most of them.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

1. ODesk: This is a legitimate site where you can find freelance writing jobs. If you have good writing skills, you can find good writing jobs at ODesk and earn reasonable money.

2. Elance: This is also a great website to find several freelance jobs including freelance writing jobs. Once you become popular on this website, you will get regular writing jobs that pay you well. Elance is truly a great website for freelance writers.

3.Getacoder: This is also a wonderful website to get regular freelance writing jobs. Getacoder is one of the top sites for freelance writers.

4. Guru: This is another fantastic website for online writers. If you want to earn money taking freelance writing jobs, you can't ignore this site. Guru is definitely a good freelance writing site on the World Wide Web.

5. Getafreelancer: If you are a beginner, you can start taking freelance writing jobs from Getafreelancer. The rewards will be less, but a beginner can also get jobs here. Once you get adequate experience in freelance writing you can get high paying freelance jobs from the other freelance writing sites.

6.Scriptlance: This is another great freelance writing job site for particularly beginners. The rewards may be less but new writers can get jobs here on Scriptlance.

7. Freelancer: This is also a popular freelance writing job site on the Internet. Freelancer is indeed a great place for online writers.

8. Ifreelance: If you want to take up online writing as your career, you can start taking freelance writing jobs from Ifreelance.

9. People per hour: This site is also good for new writers. You can get freelance writing jobs with rewards suiting your writing skills at this site People Per Hour.

Summary: If you want to write and earn, you can look for online freelance writing jobs on the World Wide Web. Genuine freelance writing jobs are available on these top freelance writing job sites. You can become a freelance writer and earn decent money online. Thanks for reading.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Many of us think that having a good interactive website or blog is that required to get tons of websites but that is not exactly correct. Getting more people to your site takes a lot of hard work (at least some smart work :-) ). After six years in the web development and blogging, I found some of the answers and some short cuts to get it. It may help you, if you are very interested in attracting a lot of visitors to your blog or website. But why other people (whom you think got lot of visitors) not revealing to you, because you need to advertise about your blog or website. Here I have added some of the proven techniques used by most of the experienced persons in the industry without spending [much] money:

Submit your site to as many search engines as you can. Here are some of the popular ones you can start with:

Make sure you don't have broken links on your site! There is nothing more annoying when one clicks a link and it does not work. There are hundreds of places you can go on the internet that will check your link validity. Use them.

Make sure your META TAGS are done right.

Submit your site to as many privately run Link Directories/Search Engines as you can find. These will not generally boost your traffic in any major way but will help to maintain steady stream of qualified visitors.

Use Banners with care.

Subscribe to the Usenet groups and advertise there. A good place to start is Google Groups

Be sure to submit your site in appropriate groups!

Be sure to signup with a backup email or you will get onto every spammers database!

Be sure you don't SPAM -- only submit a write up of your site once to any given group.

“We definitely believe that there is going to be a lot of success with the lower ends of the market, as well with lower-price products; that will be very significant, and definitely an area we think is important, and we're quite focused on, Google chief executive Larry Page said while responding to a question.

He also acknowledged that Google is facing a stiff competition in the tablet market, which is dominated by Apple's iPad. Page also highlighted Amazon's low-cost Kindle Fire tablet, which runs on Android platform but doesn't feature Google's services, like its search engine, e-mail and social network, with the tablet.

"There's also obviously been a lot of success on some lower-price tablets that run Android, maybe not the full Google version of Android," Page noted, referring to Amazon's tablet.

Google chief's comments come amid rumours of Google working on a self-branded Nexus tablet. According to reports, the Google tablet's release has been delayed till July.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Did you notice lately that something was popping up on your favorite Google Search page telling that “we have changed something”. Yes Google has changed its privacy policy.

As per wiki “Privacy policy is a statement or a legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses and manages a customer or client’s data.” While signing up for GMail you would have read, read and accepted the terms and conditions. Google has been introducing something new, now and then and we are excited when new stuffs plunge.Because we are getting more of something for FREE!

But there is no free lunch. Google keeps a track of whatever you search, see, send etc to provide more relevant ads. This post is not going to explain you the new privacy policies because Google itself has designed a elegant page to explain them. I shall explain you as why you need to know about the policies.

Google search doesn’t work the same way for everyone. The search displayed varies depending upon various factors like your location, personal information, previous searches etc. Similarly Google search resultsdiffer the your account logged in and logged out. Youtube shows personalized recommendation based on what you have seen before. Google language preference as are saved form your browser cache.

Gmail shows relevant ads based on the content of the mail you sent/received. Google maps uses your current location show accurate distances on maps. So it is important to know what kind of information is used by Google and why is it done so.

Is there any option to prevent my data being used? Yes Google provides few options to opt out their services

Everyone knows and loves Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Mark Shuttleworth, the creator of Ubuntu Linux, is pretty famous. Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the GPL, is equal parts famous and infamous. But surely there is more to Linux and Free/Open Source software than these three. And indeed there are thousands upon thousands of people toiling away fueling the mighty FOSS engine; here is a small sampling of these important contributors who make the FOSS world go 'round.

Lady Ada, Adafruit Industries

Lady Ada is Limor Fried, electronics engineer and founder of Adafruit Industries. My fellow crusty old-timers remember way way back when Radio Shack was actually about do-it-yourself electronics hacking instead of the passive brain-decay of cell phones and big-screen TVs.

Adafruit Industries is a welcome replacement for us weirdos who like to take things apart and figure out how they work. Adafruit Industries sells Arduino boards, kits, and related parts and tools. Even more valuable is the wealth of well-illustrated tutorials. You can start from scratch, with no electronics knowledge, and get a solid fundamental education in a few days' of reading and hands-on hacking.

Dr. Tony Sales, Vinux

Linux and FOSS should be leading the way in pioneering accessibility for Linux users with disabilities, because good design for disabled people is good design for everyone. One of the best accessibility projects is the Vinux distribution, which aims for out-of-the-box accessibility for visually impaired Linux users, including installation. This is a lot harder than it sounds — try it for yourself.

If you are looking for a way to make a significant contribution to Linux and to tech, consider the field of accessibility. None of us are getting any younger or healthier.

Dick MacInnis, Dream Studio

Dick MacInnis is a musician, composer, and all-around nerd. He created and maintains Dream Studio, a sleek multi-media Ubuntu spinoff for musicians, photographers, movie makers, and all creative artists. It's a super-nice customization that stays out of your way and lets you get down to business.

Akkana Peck, Rennaissance Nerd

Akkana is one of my favorite people. She used to race cars and motorcyles, flies little radio-controlled airplanes, is into astronomy, mountain biking, kayaking, photography, and all kinds of fun stuff.

Akkana is a versatile and talented coder who has worked at cool-sounding places like Silicon Graphics and Netscape, and currently works for a startup doing embedded Linux and Android work. Akkana wrote the excellent Beginning GIMP book and a bunch of first-rate Linux howtos for Linux Planet. She also writes all kinds of amazing technical articles on her Shallow Sky blog. What earned Akkana a place on this list is her generosity in sharing knowledge and helping other Linux users. Learning, doing, and sharing – isn't that what it's all about?

John Linville, Linux Wireless

The Linux Wireless project is a model that more FOSS projects should emulate. Back around 2006 or so kernel developer John Linville and his team took on the task of overhauling the Linux wireless stack. It was a mess of multiple wireless subsystems (Wavelan, Orinoco, and MadWifi). Drivers were all over the map in what functions they handled, sometimes conflicting with the kernel.

In just a couple of years, without fanfare, it was all significantly streamlined and improved, with a common driver base (mac80211) and assistance for vendors and end users. There are still some odds and ends to be worked out, but it's at the stage where most wireless network interfaces have plug-and-play native Linux support.

Jean Tourillhes, Wireless Tools for Linux

Jean Tourillhes was the core maintainer and primary documenter of the old Linux WLAN drivers and userspace tools. If it were not for Mr. Tourillhes wi-fi on Linux would have been brutish and nasty. (WLAN and wireless-tools have been replaced by the new Linux Wireless project.)

JACK

JACK is not a person, but the JACK Audio Connection Kit for Linux. JACK is a professional-level audio server for connecting audio software and hardware, like a switchboard, and brings professional low-latency audio production to Linux. Paul Davis was JACK's original author, and Jack O'Quin, Stephane Letz, Taybin Rutkin, and many other contributors have all added essential features and supported JACK in multiple important ways.

Jon Kuniholm, The Open Prosthetics Project

Jon Kuniholm, an Iraq war veteran who lost part of his arm in the service, is also a biomechanical engineer devoting his talents and open source methods to improving prosthetic limbs, which have advanced far more in cost than in functionality. Decades-old technology shouldn't be priced like it's cutting edge; the project aims to improve functionality and appearance, and make advanced designs available to anyone who wants them.

Linux OEM Vendors

There are doubtless more than the few that I know about, so please feel free to plug your own favorite independent Linux vendor in the comments. System76 and ZaReason are my favorites because they are true independent mom-and-pop shops that sell desktop Linux PCs without drama or excuses, they offer first-rate customer service and customizations without whining, and don't need a year to retool for a new Linux release.

Greg Kroah-Hartman, Linux Driver Project

Greg Kroah-Hartman launched the Linux Driver Project a few years ago to help vendors get drivers for their devices into the mainline kernel. The project has been a huge success, demonstrating yet again (as with Linux Wireless) that lending a friendly, helpful hand works better than yelling.

Denise Paolucci and Mark Smith, Dreamwidth

Dreamwidth Studios is a fork of LiveJournal by former LiveJournal staffers Denise Paolucci and Mark Smith. It is unusual for a FOSS project as it has a majority of women developers, and the whole community is known for being friendly and helpful to newcomers.

OpenTox, Cast of Thousands

The OpenTox project, led by coordinator Barry Hardy, is a global data-collection and analysis framework that aims to replace animal testing for chemical interactions and toxicity with predictive computer analysis.

Ken Starks, the Helios Initiative

Ken Starks does the kind of hard, hands-on advocacy that delivers the best results: rehabbing computers with Linux and giving them to children who can't afford to buy their own computers. Since the Helios Project moved into spiffy new quarters in Taylor, Texas they've expanded to building a computer lab and teaching classes.

Walter Bender, Sugar

Walter Bender was one of the chief designers of Sugar, the computer interface for young children that was originally created for the One Laptop per Child XO-1 netbook. When OLPC allowed as how they were maybe going to allow Windows XP on OLPC netbooks, Mr. Bender is credited by some for saving Sugar by leaving OLPC and founding Sugar Labs to continue its development independently. Sugar is included in a number of Linux distributions including Fedora, Debian, and Mint, and Sugar on a Stick is a complete bootable on a USB stick.

Yes, There is a Moral

There is a moral to this story, and that is that Linux is more than giant wealthy companies, or glamorous celebrity geeks, or an unruly rabble. (Three cheers for unruly rabble!). It is fundamental building blocks that anyone can learn to use to make the world a little bit better.

We know that there's more than a few unsung heroes and heroines of Linux and free software, though. Who do you consider a hero, and why? Stay tuned, we'll have more soon.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Google might be synonymous with the word search in most of the world, but that hasn’t dissuaded others from bringing new search engines to the market, usually aiming to innovate in an area where Google has somehow let up its guard. Volunia, launched this week, promises to help searchers with three distinguishing features:

High level site previews in search results

A multimedia search within a site function

A social layer which, among other things, allows Volunia users to share information and connect to one another

My sense is that it is the social layer which will be most appreciated by Volunia users. Let’s look at each.

Volunia Search Result Previews Offer A “Fly-Over” Site View

During his launch presentation, (in Italian, starts at 40 minute mark) Volunia founder Massimo Marchiori described search users as similar to chickens, trapped in cages and incapable of flying.

Users have been forced to choose search results by consulting one of those classic 10 item title, summary and link lists for too long. Wouldn’t it be nice if users were freed from their cages, and not only, were actually able to fly over a site, viewing a visual or a grid map, before committing to visit it?

Volunia, perhaps from volare, to fly, offers two types of high level site map previews, potentially freeing users from commitment tyranny. The first type, a visual map, aims to group areas of a site together in neighborhoods.

Figure 1: Volunia search result site fly-over: visual map

The second site preview map is in the form of a grid, reminiscent of computer folders. The expectation is that this format will be more useful to people searching from devices with small displays, like smartphones.

Figure 2: Volunia search result site fly-over: grid map

Interactive drill-down versions of the maps are also available from a Volunia menu bar which is visible while navigating a site. Site owners can improve the maps using a Volunia provided sitemap editor.

Figure 3: Volunia sitemap editor

Result previews aren’t exactly a new concept – Ask.com introduced their binoculars feature in 2004.

Where Volunia differs is in their choice to show a site map preview instead of a page preview. Many searches are indeed navigational in nature, one reason Google provides their sitelinks for some queries.

Volunia may be on to something.

Volunia Wants To Surface Multimedia Otherwise Hidden In A Site

Initially the primary focus in Web search was on textual documents, particularly the html kind, rich in semantic structure with their glorious title, heading and paragraph tags.

Oh, I didn’t mention the links between documents, did I? Other Web content formats, from PDF files to images and then video posed much greater obstacles to search engine indexing for a number of reasons.

Today, major search engines like Google offer navigation links to enable a user to search just images or video.

Ambitious searchers can usually find an advanced search syntax page which allows them to limit their searches to specific sites and file types, but for the most part major search engines have taken the “don’t make me think” approach, providing searchers with a blend of media types in search results, what Google calls universal search.

Volunia on the other hand wants to make it easy for a user to discover the multimedia richness hidden in sites like NASA by providing a very visible multimedia site search filter.

Figure 4: Volunia's multimedia search filter

The Web Has Come Alive, Says Volunia: Volunia’s Social Layer

Volunia’s second area of innovation is in adding a social layer to their search results and subsequent website navigation by the Volunia user.

In search results, users can select a site based on what other Volunia users are viewing right now. Volunia displays the number of page and site visitors.

Figure 5: Volunia visitors currently viewing the page and the site

It isn’t immediately clear how useful this feature will prove to be: after all, even if we want to follow the “wisdom of the crowd”, there’s no way to know if the site’s current visitors from Volunia are actually happy with their choice, nor would it be clear to what extent one searcher’s expectations for a page align with those already visiting that page.

The same visitor counts are also available as layers on the site navigation maps.

Seek & Meet: Interact With Other Volunia Users

What might arguably be Volunia’s greatest innovation is in letting fellow search travelers to a page interact with each other, what Volunia calls seek and meet, a feature which feels very reminiscent of Google’s now closed Sidewiki, albeit with two key differences. The first is that users can interact in realtime.

Figure 6: Volunia seek and meet interactive site chat

This birds of a feather real time information sharing might prove useful in a number of situations where people are looking for pre- and post- purchase information.

In the pre-purchase phase, a searcher might want to interact with other users to better understand the product or service they’re considering, not to mention to discover what alternatives others are considering.

Sometimes, it’s nice just to have confirmation that we’re making the right choice. In the post-purchase phase, searchers might be able to resolve support issues by consulting with other searchers – potentially reducing a company’s support costs while providing interactive peer to peer support 24 hours a day.

Each Volunia user is able to fill in a personal profile, much like any social network. The matchmaking possibilities are clearly endless, but I suspect it would be best if I don’t go there….

It isn’t rare to see glowing online reviews written by someone with a connection to a product or service, and equally harsh reviews from competitors or ex-employees with an ax to grind. It doesn’t take much to imagine people attempting to scam the system by introducing fake search users to interact with other searchers.

It remains to be seen if “seek and meet” really is something people will take to. Real time search collaboration will well depend on a critical mass of socially oriented searchers congregating on the same sites at the same time, no easy feat for a niche search engine.

Site owners will undoubtedly be pleased with the second apparent difference to Google’s Sidewiki: commenting can be disabled if desired, something Google didn’t allow.

Volunia, The Company, And A Few Volunia Tidbits

According to data published by Italian business paper Il Sole 24 Ore, Volunia was founded in 2008 by Massimo Marchiori and entrepreneur Mariano Pireddu, with Pireddu providing €2 million in funding to date. You might not immediately recognize Massimo Marchiori’s name, yet as an academic Massimo has been working on the theoretical issues of Web search for years.

During Volunia’s beta phase, over 100,000 people are being invited to become “power user” beta testers. The Volunia user interface is in 12 languages but Marchiori said during the launch presentation that the actual index coverage isn’t limited to those languages.

The Volunia team has ideas for Volunia “extensions”, i.e. new functionality, which will be added to the core, the hard part which has already been done. Advertising will be added to the service.

Marchiori Says Social Needs To Emerge In Search

In an introductory video, Massimo notes that Volunia stems from an idea he’s harbored for several years, an idea for a “different perspective of what the search engine of the future should be”. In the Il Sole 24 Ore report Massimo said “The Web is a living place, there’s information, but there’s also people. The social dimension, already present, just needs to emerge”.

Bing, which started incorporating social signals from Facebook in 2010, and Google, which launched its social search in 2009, would probably both argue that the social dimension to search has already emerged. So would upstart blekko and to a lessor degree, the RussianYandex.

Armani, Chianti, Ferrari… And Volunia

Volunia is based in Italy, not in Silicon Valley as one might have guessed. Italy actually has a history of search engine excellence. Google may well power most Italian portals today, but the talent behind a now defunct Italian search engine, Arianna, led Ask.com to locate its European R&D headquarters in Pisa.

The Reality Check: Search Isn’t Easy: Volunia Faces Many Challenges

The basic task of a search engine, finding, indexing and retrieving the world’s information, is a complex one. The size of the Web is immense. There’s the problem of searcher intent: we know what we’re looking for when we type a brief search query, but those few words are often open to multiple interpretations.

Google has conditioned searchers to expect lightning speed and mostly fresh and relevant results. Volunia will have to perform well on all these fronts and navigate thorny issues ofprivacy.

Many start-ups have nonetheless tried to compete with Google and Bing. Some, like Cuil, ran out of funding before gathering significant market share; others like blekko, with far greaterfunding, are still working hard to win over hearts and minds. Whether Volunia will be able to pull this off remains to be seen.

Kick The Volunia Tires Yourself!

Volunia has a sign-up form for those who want to try it out. Go kick the tires and support the underdog! From messages that I’ve seen on Friendfeed, Twitter and Facebook, very few have actually had a chance to actually use Volunia, credentials are only dribbling out, most likely in an attempt to avoid problems similar to what Google faced when they first opened Google Analytics to too many people at once. I based the considerations made (and images) in this article on demo videos released by Volunia in order to give you a preview of what to expect.